Berenice Abbott's Changing New York Papers, 1935
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Berenice Abbott’s Changing New York papers, 1935-1938 7 boxes (8.75 linear feet) Museum of the City of New York 1220 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10029 Telephone: 212-534-1672 Fax: 212-423-0758 [email protected] www.mcny.org © Museum of the City of New York. All rights reserved. Prepared by Suzanna Calev, archival intern, edited by Lindsay Turley, Manuscripts and Reference Archivist. June 2013 Description is in English. Descriptive Summary Creator: Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) Title: Berenice Abbott’s Changing New York papers Dates: 1935-1938 Abstract: Berenice Abbott was an American photographer best known for her black-and-white photographs of New York City architecture and urban design in the 1930s. Abbott’s Changing New York papers document a portion of the Changing New York photography project, funded by the Federal Art Project, including research notes collected from 1935-1938 to provide context for the photography, and documentation from 1938-1939 of the editing process for the captions of the Changing New York publication. Extent: Seven boxes (8.75 linear feet) Accession numbers: Archive status. Activity 08574. Language: English Biographical Note Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) was born in Springfield, Ohio in 1898. In 1918 she moved with friends from Ohio State University, her alma mater, to New York’s Greenwich Village, where she was heavily influenced by artists such as Eugene O’Neil and Sadakichi Hartmann. Following other artists to Europe, Abbott moved to Paris in 1921, where she met Man Ray and developed an interest in photography. She honed her craft in Berlin and Paris. Her friendship with photographer Eugene Atget and his death in 1927 prompted her to return to New York City in 1929 in order to promote his photographs for publishing. Upon visiting the city again, Abbott saw the changing landscape and decided to move back permanently. She approached the Museum of the City of New York’s director, Hardinge Scholle, with a proposal to document the changing city. Scholle was impressed with her ideas but funds were not available. Scholle attempted to support Abbott’s work by supplying her with names of prominent New Yorkers who she could contact soliciting financial support for her project; unfortunately, this bore no results, either. In 1935, after photographing New York City independently for six years - unable to get financial support from organizations, foundations, or private individuals - she was hired by the Federal Art Project (FAP) as a project supervisor for what became know as Changing New York, a project to photograph the changing landscape of New York City. The Federal Art Project, a small division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) formed in 1935 to centralize various public work projects, was a relief agency for artists, designed to show that art contributed to the general welfare. Along with the FAP, the Museum of the City of New York sponsored the project and agreed to purchase a set of Abbott’s federally funded photographs. In addition to receiving funds to photograph the city, Abbott received research assistants to help her with the project. From 1935 to 1938, Abbott took even more photographs than the 305 she printed for the definitive set of Changing New York, but only 111 were included when the Museum of the City of New York opened the exhibition in 1937. Abbott’s public acclaim and the FAP’s desire for favorable publicity created the opportunity for publication of a Changing New York book. The 1939 New York World’s Fair also contributed to the motivation to create a publication as New York publishers anticipated hordes of tourists buying New York City guides. The success of her exhibit in 1937 convinced E.P. Dutton and Co., Inc. to contract with the Federal Writers’ Project to publish Changing New York. For the Dutton book, Abbott was instructed to limit herself to the FAP photographs. Elizabeth McCausland, art critic and Abbott’s lifetime partner, was assigned to collaborate with Abbott on the captions for the book. Dutton rejected McCausland’s initial design and desired a more conservative lay-out in which 100 full-page photographs would carry traditional captions. The final product leaned more toward a conventional guidebook, presenting photographs in geographical order, progressing from the southern tip of Manhattan to the north, and east to the outer boroughs. Abbott protested the design, but in the end, Dutton had the final say on the captions, selection of photographs, and layout. The book was published in April 1939, and was a huge success, receiving favorable reviews. The FAP disbanded in 1943 and sent Abbott’s 700 negatives to the Museum of the City of New York where they currently reside. Other significant gifts of prints were made to the Museum in the late 1940s. You can view the entire collection of the Museum’s Berenice Abbot photography collection online at the Museum’s online Collections Portal – http://collections.mcny.org. Scope and Content This collection contains research notes from 1935-1938 which support photographs taken for the Changing New York project, and documentation from 1938-1939 on the editing process of the Changing New York book. Abbott devoted half of her photographs to lower Manhattan, particularly the financial district, the waterfront, the lower East Side, and Greenwich Village. Abbott also photographed areas of Brooklyn and Astoria, Queens. The collection provides insight into one artist’s vision to depict the changing nature of New York City during the 1930s. Arrangement The collection consists of two series. Series I: Negative research notes for the Changing New York project, is arranged alphabetically based on location, building type (i.e. drug store, fire house, etc.), or official title. We believe this reflects the original arrangement of the material when it was acquired and likely when Abbott or one of her assistants maintained the files. Refer to Appendix A following the container list for a cross reference to folder title by negative number. Series II: Changing New York captions by Elizabeth McCausland and Berenice Abbott, is arranged chronologically and numerically. The first three folders are arranged numerically by page number. The fourth folder is arranged chronologically by date of correspondence from 1936 to 1939. Series I: Negative research notes for the Changing New York project Series II: Changing New York captions by Elizabeth McCausland and Berenice Abbott Series Description Series I: Negative research notes for Changing New York exhibit, 1935-1938 This series contains research notes of the locations that Berenice Abbott photographed from 1935 to 1938 for the Changing New York project and resulting exhibition. When Abbott deemed a photograph worthy, she gave a proof print to the research staff, who assigned it a number, title, date, and folder. A researcher then assembled information about the subject—filling in a mimeographed worksheet, writing an essay, drawing a map, or collecting newspaper clippings—and placed the material in the folder. Museum of the City of New York curator Grace Mayer had hoped the researchers would provide descriptive captions for the photographs and had planned to highlight their work in a special showcase, but they failed to meet the Museum’s deadline and therefore missed the opportunity for public acknowledgement. Some of the folders have titles and negative numbers which correspond to photographs in the Changing New York project, but the folders are empty; please see the “Processing information” and “Container list” for specific information. Series II: Changing New York captions by Elizabeth McCausland and Berenice Abbott, 1938-1939 This series contains the original, unpublished captions written by Abbott and McCausland as well as drafts of revised captions made by the research team with McCausland’s edits. This series also contains weekly reports made by three researchers, Charles White, Sally Sands, and James Broughton; and memos between McCausland and the Project Manager, Lincoln Rothschild. Dutton rejected McCausland’s original design of a varied layout of questions, assorted facts, and photographs to create a cinematic effect in preference of a more traditional layout. Abbott protested the book’s design, but Dutton’s plans were finalized and McCausland began working with the research unit to prepare the captions for the book. Her demands and questions on the new captions stumped researchers Charles White, Sally Sands, and James Broughton, to the point where Lincoln Rothschild, director of the New York office of another FAP project, the Index of American Design, and supervisor of McCausland, reminded her that “the whole purpose of the additional personnel is to make a dead-line and I feel all our efforts should be conditioned by this necessity.” [Box 7, folder 4]. Although the original captions were rejected by the publisher, they offer insight into how McCausland and Abbott wanted to describe the photographs and document the changing landscape of the city. There are four folders in this series. Language of Materials Materials are in English. Access and Use The Museum of the City of New York collections must be examined on site. Appointments to examine materials must be made in advance by contacting the Archivist through e-mail at [email protected]. Collection use is subject to all copyright laws. Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Rights and Reproductions Office at the Museum of the City of New York. For more information please contact: Rights and Reproductions office Museum of the City of New York 1220 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10029 Telephone: 212-534-1672, ext. 3375 Fax: 917-492-3960 [email protected] Administrative information Custodial history These manuscripts, along with several of Abbot’s photographs from the Changing New York project, were in the custody of the Metropolitan Museum of Art prior to their transfer to the Museum of the City of New York.